FRAVASHI, second in the Al Quoz, makes his first start back and now has the services of Frankie Dettori.

SIR GERRY, the winner of the first six-furlong sprint race at Meydan, just picked up his first win since when landing a Listed race at Salisbury.  WAR ARTIST, the 2010 Al Shindagha Sprint (G3) victor, and fourth in the Al Quoz, gets a jump in the Golden Jubilee as well, and is now trained by Alain Royer Dupre. 

Add Aussie Group 1 winner STARSPANGLEDBANNER, VARENAR – the only horse to recently defeat Goldikova (2009 Prix Foret), Darley July Cup winner FLEETING SPIRIT, course and distance winning SAYIF, and Hong Kong’s fast-closing third in the KrisFlyer Sprint, HAPPY ZERO – and well, you have just a dandy horse race.

Purple Moon, the Luca Cumani-trainee who managed a narrow third in the Dubai Sheema Classic (G1) from 2009, goes in Thursday’s Ascot Gold Cup (G1) over 2.5 miles.  Godolphin’s Black Snowflake, a two-time Carnival starter this season with a fourth and fifth to his ledger in 3-year-old races, is one of 32 starters in the Britannia Stakes over a mile.

Friday has a host of horses familiar to Dubai racing followers.  The 16-strong Wolverton Handicap (Listed) over ten furlongs has seven starters who have been seen in the Emirates, including Meydan winners Halicarnassus and Antinori, and former star Traffic Guard.  Beauchamp Xerxes, Tartan Gigha, Kings Gambit, and Fiery Lad have all had decent goes in Dubai, with Tartan Gigha placing behind the strong Mr. Brock in a Meydan handicap this year.

A full field of 32 are expected for the Buckingham Palace Stakes at seven furlongs to cap the Friday card, with Al Khaleej, third behind Green Coast in February, and Swift Gift, second behind Al Arab on the second night of the 2010 Carnival, are part of the bulky field, and both stand chances.

Saturday, the Golden Jubilee (G1) stands to be the top sprint race of the year thus far with 27 horses holding entries.  Dubai winners Kinsale King, Joy And Fun, Sir Gerry, and Balthazaar’s Gift are amongst the grand lot, awaiting the final declarations and barrier draw later today.

1.  Thursday = parade of favorites
Most often, racing in Dubai is not kind to favorites but Thursday witnessed a steady stream of well-backed winners, led my Mike De Kock’s 3-year-old winner, Musir.  Alexandros took the Al Rashidiya with a strong stretch kick in the first race over the turf course, followed by a perfectly timed Frankie Dettori ride on Age of Reason in the 2,800 meters marathon, giving the Italian the first two turf races at Meydan.  King of Rome franked the form of stablemate Lizard’s Desire when winning the Thursday finale.

2.  Friday = longshots!
So Shiny, a 16-1 winner at the 2009 Carnival, was ignored by the international punters and sent off at 30-1 (14-1 in the UK) when defeating the fast-closing Indian performer, Oasis Star, who seems to have a future regardless of the second place finish.  Barbecue Eddie found his form back on the all-weather, where he had success in America two years back, and ran on incredibly well to score a mild upset.  Snaffy loved the drop in class and a return to the grass winning at 16-1 while Kal Barg swept past all with a wide stretch move in the Friday finale at 30-1 in the international pool.

3.  Tapeta remains even
So Shiny and Barbecue Eddie took their sprint wins on Friday from front-running positions and made all.  Anmar and Kal Barg won route races from well back, the latter coming incredibly wide to do it, even wider that Mister Fasliyev who was strung out turning for home.  From Thursday, Mr. Brock was wide throughout and stayed on incredibly well for a handy score while perfect tripped Tartan Gigha didn’t have enough. 

4.  Dettori makes a rare bad choice
Global City, with Ted Durcan up, landed a sprint event on Thursday carrying the primary Godolphin colors while Frankie Dettori watched from fifth as he sided with the mare, Alo Pura.  Rarely have we seen Frankie make the wrong choice, but that was most definitely the case on this occasion.

5.  Late night pace bias unfounded
After the opening night of the 2010 Carnival ended with three consecutive front-runners making near all the running en route to wins.  That trend was totally discounted over the two nights from this week.

6.  Sir Gerry fails to re-up
One of the biggest angles we saw coming into the 2010 Carnival, when reviewing the 2009 Carnival, was the inability of longshot winners to find their form a second time.  All but two big priced winners at the 2009 Carnival managed to do it again (Gladiatorus and Snaffy) and Sir Gerry, at 49-1 internationally, 25-1 in the UK, could only muster fourth on Friday after being backed in at much shorter odds.

7.  DeKock third stringers overbet, underperform
While trainer Mike DeKock has had another strong start to a Carnival, winning five races and earning four other placings, his stable still has some old plodders who are well-backed but simply don’t class up with the rest of the barn.  Friday’s last race saw Art of War and Rocks Off take attention, most of that going to the former, let go as 5-2 co-favorite with Rockette.  Art of War never picked up the running and finished in mid-pack.  Let the reminder stand – when DeKock runs horses that don’t appear to match the usual caliber of the stable, chances are they don’t perform that way either.  Raceplayers must recognize the better crop with a check of the past performance / form guide and recognize they must play the horse, not the trainer.

8.  Horse to watch from this week
Friday’s Cape Verdi (G3) saw Soneva take a nice win over Aspectoflove.  While Mike De Kock’s Zirconeum seems better over longer ground and found her best stride when late, I was impressed with the fifth place finish of Purple Sage, who galloped out well past the winner well.  Also, Joanna Morgan trainee Fourpenny Lane was slammed in a chain reaction once Aspectoflove shifted for more running room, but still stayed on to finish just off the flank of Zirconeum, but seventh.

9.  LISTEN to the great Dubai Racing Channel broadcast
For those with any access to the simulcast feed from Dubai, which is actually the live coverage provided by the Dubai Racing Channel, LISTEN up.  Trainer Doug Watson absolutely glowed about his horse, Barbecue Eddie, after another of his, Force Freeze, had won.  Watson made it back to back wins and the BBQ man himself was 13-1 in the US and 25-1 in the UK pools.  Their fabulous coverage has also integrated the most useful application of the TrakUS system ever.  Brett Williams, Laura King, Jason Ford, and Fanny Salmon have really added so much to the Carnival coverage this year with their insight, interviews, and presence, done all without commercial interruption.  If you haven’t caught any of the coverage…don’t delay!

Next week brings us just one night of racing, Thursday, featuring the UAE 2000 Guineas and the Al Shindagha Sprint (G3).  Good luck!